Loudoun Toastmasters Humorous Speech & Table Topics WINNERS (FALL 2015)
       

Lee Crosby (Humorous Speech Winner)	Lisa Holliday (Table Topics Winner)
Kevin O'Neil (Second Place)	Lesley Abashian (Second Place)

                         
                                      

What do I write speeches about?

One of my Toastmasters mentees recently asked me this question. This is the advice I gave her.

The simple (and probably non-helpful) answer is "anything." Don't make the mistake of trying to come up with speech topics out of whole cloth. I once read something that radically changed how I look at preparing for these speeches: you could do the same speech for all ten CC manual speeches, just tweaking it each time for whatever that assignment is emphasizing.

So, here's a list of ideas:

• Hobbies: what are you interested in that you think others might be? I have done four total manual speeches on different aspects of Star Trek (and discovered a few "closet Trekkies" in the process :-). I also did a speech combining public speaking skills and the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga, of which I am a practitioner.
• Interesting things you've read about: I did a model speech (also storytelling manual speech) on St Peter from the Bible, when he denied Jesus three times and Jesus later redeemed him. I also did a speech on how to learn a foreign language, which I used for two manual speeches (CC #8 and #9).
• Your job: what's cool, or interesting, or little-known, or encouraging, about your job or jobs you've had? I did a speech on APIs, which is a big part of my job.
• Messages you want to get out there: my CC#10 speech, which I also used as a contest speech and as several speeches from the Storytelling advanced manual, was on women's situational awareness for self-protection. It was actually not a very good contest speech, though I won a club level with it, but it was such an important message I wanted to get it out there.

See a theme? (1) Speaking on things I know about. (2) Using essentially the same speech multiple times, tweaking it each time. I used that basic Star Trek material for four different speeches.

Obviously, each speech was different, but I only had to do the research once. Don't reinvent the wheel every speech. That's actually real-life, by the way: absolutely no speaker out there actually writes new speeches each time. You re-use lots of previous material, customizing it for the occasion and audience.

New England School of Law 2015 Commencement Address

Last Friday, I had the honor and privilege to watch my daughter, Justine, graduate from the New England School of Law. The Honorable Ralph D. Gants, a Massachusetts Supreme Court Judge, presented the commencement address. As a Toastmaster, I have been trained to listen to speeches with a constructively critical ear. Judge Gants didn?t let me down.

He combined humor with a serious message to these 200 law graduates, inspiring them with a concise, purposeful delivery that opened and closed with a reference to the Star Wars movie franchise.

In the speech, he urged them to ignore the common ?nonsense? surrounding the law industry, giving brief but sound reasoning to his arguments:

1. That we have too many lawyers in our country
2. That we do not need lawyers, that all they do is slow us down and generate needless litigation
3. That only large law firm?s deal with the most challenging legal issues.
4. That all the innovation in our society is being driven by entrepreneurs, business people, and investment managers, and that lawyers are still doing law the same way they have for generations.
5. That law is no longer a vehicle for social change.

He opened and closed the speech, which lasted no longer than 10 minutes, with references to Jedi knights. A transcript of the speech can be read at nesl.edu

"May the force be with you!" (Kevin O?Neil, CC, Loudoun Toastmasters, May 28, 2015)

7 Things to do when you give a short speech

7 Things to do when you give a short speech

(source: Inc. Magazine article by Bill Murphy Jr., published May 14, 2014)

1. Decide to present 3 main points.
   An effective 5-7 minute speech allows you to present 3 messages-build your speech around only 3. And 3 is a good number-not too few or too many.
2. Prepare and practice.
   Try out your speech in front of others, time your speech, and rewrite it; “polishing” will improve your message.
3. Know when to quit.
   Once you’ve made you point, finish and sit down. And be sure to time your speech so that you stay within 5-7 minutes.
4. Plot out the course of your speech.
   Plan on a minute for the opening and closing and a minute for each point. The extra two minutes will allow you to run over as you move through your speech. You may want to tell the audience things like, “that was my first point, here is my second”, etc.
5. Give them something to look at while you’re talking.
   It gives them something to look at while you speak, something to visually remember to reinforce your message. It can be a prop, photograph, etc.
6. Share a part of yourself
   Connect your personal experience, feeling, emotion, belief, etc. with your message. And let them hear it in your voice, facial expressions and body language.
7. Make sure you are heard
   The best speeches are as much about making sure everyone can hear you and enunciating clearly as they are about preparing, organizing and practicing. Make sure where you are presenting allows everyone to hear, change your position in the audience or get audio equipment if necessary.

Table Topics - Lose the Fear and Have Fun!

Photo Courtesy Robbie Grubs

We all know that suddenly being asked to speak in front of a group can be a bit nerve wracking and to some even scary. That is exactly what the Table Topics portion of a standard Toastmasters meeting is designed to help.

During this section of the meeting the Topics Master will pose questions, based on the theme, to people at random. Chosen participants, usually those not speaking or performing another role, will then give a one-to-two minute off-the-cuff or extemporaneous speech.

In the May 7th meeting, Toastmaster Chip Vann shared these suggestions to help us prepare for the occasion.

1.  One way to prepare early for a table topics is to build an outline in your head as soon as you find out the theme. Tonight's theme was Mother's Day. Identify your point and a couple of references to support that - keep it brief. Also draft a way to conclude it. Then, whatever the question is, adapt your TT speech to fit the thought you already prepared.
2. It is best to come to the front, but if you are a guest, you may just stand where you are. Members and any others who are comfortable do come to the front to gain more experience in the speaking space.
3. Remember, you have almost no time to prepare and everyone knows that. So don't worry about your speech, we generally have low expectations.
4. Have fun with it, it's a great way to participate in the meeting as a guest.

Lastly, you might just win a ribbon!


Add Power Pose to Your Speech Prep

Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

Have you ever had to psych yourself up before you give a speech? Do you sit up with your chest open wide ready to run on stage or do you sit in your chair with your arms crossed, head slightly dipped, awaiting the Toastmaster to introduce you so you can get it over with? I used to fall into the latter category until I listened to Amy Cuddy's presentation on the Power of Posture and Non-Verbal Communication.

Amy Cuddy, Harvard Business School professor, and her colleagues conducted a study about the relationship between posture and confidence to better understand why some students participate more than others in class - participation being  a significant portion of the student's grade.

One of the findings of the study showed a direct correlation between posture and the levels of cortisol and testosterone. Cortisol is the hormone related to anxiety and testosterone is known as the dominance hormone. The test showed that participants who held a power pose - one that opens the chest and makes the person "bigger" - for just two minutes had marked increases in testosterone and therefore confidence. The reverse was also shown in participants who held a low power pose - making oneself smaller by slouching or holding arms closer to the body - by higher levels of cortisol physiologically increasing anxiety.

The helpful hint from these findings is to add holding a power position for two minutes before you deliver your next speech and you will not only FEEL, but will actually BE more confident in your delivery.